Goodness knows what Mike Hussey has in his veins. Whatever it is, it must be ice cold. With Australia all but out of the World Twenty20, Hussey played what may be one of the defining innings of the entire tournament. He made 60 from 24 balls, and 22 of those runs in the space of a final over from which Australia needed to score 18 to win. It was hit sixes or go home, and for Hussey that was no choice at all.

Mitchell Johnson handed over the strike with a single from Saeed Ajmal's first ball, and Hussey then thumped two successive sixes into the stand at midwicket, a four past point and a final six over long-on. On a day that had seemed to belong to Pakistan, Hussey tore the match away from them through a combination of will and skill.

"That was the best feeling I have ever had on a cricket field," he said. "I have hit the winning runs in an Ashes Test at Adelaide, but this was right up there. And possibly better because this was such a big game, a semi-final."

Now England await in Sunday's final. "They are a very, very good Twenty20 team," said the Australian captain Michael Clarke. "In their side of the draw they have probably been the best team and they deserve to be in the final."

It was the third time in the tournament Hussey has got his team out of a deep hole, after his unbeaten 47 against Bangladesh and his 39 not out versus Sri Lanka. Australia, it seems, are never beaten until he is out. "This gentleman here, Michael Hussey, is just an absolute freak," added Clarke. "He and Cameron White were just amazing. With the batting we've got we can chase any total."

Wickets had tumbled right through their innings, first as Mohammad Aamer cut off the brutish openers, Shane Watson and David Warner, in his first two overs. Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin were both stumped charging the spinners, and while White peppered the stands with sixes even his big hitting could not keep the required rate down below 10 an over.When White became Aamer's third victim, Australia still needed 53 runs from 23 balls. An improbable, almost impossible, task. No one told Hussey that.

Until that point almost everything Australia had done seemed to go wrong. The spinner Nathan Hauritz was in a bib down at third-man, busying himself towelling down Johnson's biceps between spells. He should have had much more important work to do in the middle. In the stiflingly thick heat of an overcast day, and with the regular rain showers that had punctuated the morning dampening the wicket, Australia's muscular power game seemed a poor fit for the conditions.

Pakistan's openers allowed themselves two overs to take a look at Australia's attack. They liked what they saw. As fast as Dirk Nannes's 10th delivery was – and the speedgun clocked it at 92mph – it was travelling faster still when it came back at him off Kamran Akmal's bat. Nannes ducked to avoid decapitation and the tone was set.

Pakistan were anything but intimidated. It was a little like watching a Western where the sheriff kicks his way through the swinging doors of the saloon only to emerge head-first through the window moments later. In the next over Salman Butt sliced the off-side open with successive fours, each off deliveries from Shaun Tait measured at 93mph.

The Australians slipped down a gear, bringing on the leg-spinner Steve Smith. Akmal under-edged Smith's second ball behind, but Haddin spilled the catch. Reprieved and relieved, Akmal crashed 12 runs from the next four balls, then gleefully tucked into Shane Watson, including a six thumped perilously close to the VIP seat of the English board's chairman, Giles Clarke, in the second tier of the pavilion.

Kamran fell shortly after raising his fifty, ending a ruinous opening stand of 82. Then his brother Umar cut loose. When Johnson returned for his final spell Umar pulled his first and final balls for six over midwicket, and cartwheeled his third for six over backward-square. While Tait bowled a tight final over, the indignities inflicted on their bowling by the Akmal brothers should have settled the match. Hussey had other plans.